Monday, May 26, 2008

Topps Series Two is due to be released in the next week or so and I'm still trying to finish my Series One set. This is all my fault of course, because I wanted to see if I could complete the set by only ripping wax. After opening three straight blasters all completely full of doubles I say never again. I still have 8 cards to go (29, 86, 92, 93, 154, 214, 232, 266) for my set though. How to complete it? Go crazy on the blasters? Search all over town for a shop that sells commons? Buy 'em on eBay with $5.00 shipping per card? Find a 10 year old who collects and beat him up and swipe the cards I need? I don't need to do any of that because Topps has these!

After Topps screwed up their rack packs last year with lame inserts, they decided to copy Upper Deck's Fat Pack model and sell a 30 card pack for five bucks. I think it's five bucks, might have been three. I snuck it in the shopping cart when I got groceries so I don't remember. Some card journalist I am! If you want to know for yourself just take a pack to the counter, hand the cashier a four dollar bill and if they give you a dirty look you'll know that packs are five bucks each. But forget all that, the reason I had to have this particular pack is this:

Card 93! I need card 93! Hooray! A Topps card I need! Now, I know what some of you out there are thinking right now.

HEY. HEY. You just wait a goshdarn second there. First of all these are rack packs using flimsy see-through plastic wrapping, and it has been a tradition from time immemorial that collectors may root through rack packs and cello packs looking for good players. Number two, I'm looking for a Kenny Lofton base card, not a jersey card or something I can flip on eBay. There is no number three 'cause you're a jerk, Donald Sutherland. Trying to ruin my joy of pulling the first Topps card I've actually needed in a couple of months over message board politics drama is just wrong. Oh well, in the spirit of the holidays, I forgive you but don't let it happen again. Let's open this beast. Every time I hit one of the elusive 8 I am going to link to a march by John Phillip Sousa to express my joy.

No joy in the top pack. I even got another McCain card when I'd rather pull Huckabee. The bottom pack is the one with the goodies. Or perhaps goody. I'm counting on Topps' weird collation to get all 8 I need in a row.

An often overlooked aspect of picking through packs is that you have to actually search for quality players. Back in '88 a buddy and I rummaged through cases of rack packs with the Topps collation sequences looking to make our fortune with Sam Horn rookies and Al Leiter error cards.